What's really depressing is the huge spike in hand sanitizer sales after H1N1. Don't these people know that antibacterial agents do nothing against viruses?
Alcohol will damage the lipid membrane enveloping certain viruses (including influenza) which helps them enter cells. I for one didn't know until now that some viruses are unaffected because they don't have this.
The article suggests otherwise (though does not quite say so in: And some makers of germ killers wish they could say their products kill the swine-flu virus -- a claim that some can reasonably make.)